By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerians saw a 7 per cent month-on-month increase in the average retail price of a litre of petrol and the average price of 5kg of cooking gas in August 2024, the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows.
The stats office in its Petrol Price Watch for August 2024 said that a litre of petrol averaged N830.46 in August 2024 compared with the previous month’s N770.54 and N626.70 in August 2023.
On state profiles analysis, the report said Benue paid the highest average retail price of N941.24 per litre, followed by Bauchi and Gombe States at N935.71 and N925.00, respectively.
“Conversely, Delta, Cross River, and Edo paid the lowest average retail price at N667.50, N672.00, and N676.25, respectively,’’ it stated.
Analysis by zones showed that the North-East Zone recorded the highest average retail price in August 2024 at N908.21 while the South-West recorded the lowest price at N677.11 per litre.
The NBS also stated in its Diesel Price Watch Report for August 2024 that the average retail price was N1,406.05 per litre.
It said that the August 2024 price of N1,406.05 per litre amounted to a 64.58 per cent increase over the N854.32 per litre paid in August 2023.
“On a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 1.93 per cent from the N1,379.48 per litre recorded in July 2024,’’ it added.
On state profile analysis, the report said the highest average price per litre of diesel in August was recorded in Kaduna state at N1,979.23, followed by Bauchi at N1,927.34 and Taraba at N1,638.14.
On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Lagos at N1,237.14 per litre, followed by Ogun at N1,255.00 and Osun at N1,268.18.
In addition, the analysis by zones showed that the North-East Zone had the highest price of N1,621.23 per litre, while the South-West recorded the lowest price at N1,283.47 per litre.
Meanwhile, the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased 7.62 per cent from N5,974.55 recorded in July 2024 to N6,430.02 in August 2024, an increment of 56.25 per cent from N4,115.32 in August 2023.
On state profile analysis, the report showed that Benue recorded the highest average price at N7,000 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by Rivers at N6,954.55, and Borno at N6,914.29.
It said on the other hand, Taraba recorded the lowest price at N5,600.67, followed by Abuja and Kogi at N5,825.00 and N5,857.56, respectively.
Analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price at N6,585.18 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-South at N6,451.34.
“The North-Central recorded the lowest average retail price at N6,344.29,” the NBS said.
Also, the NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 9.05 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N14,261.57 in July 2024 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.
The report said the average retail price for 12.5kg cooking gas rose by 69.15 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N9,194.41 recorded in August 2023 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.
State profile analysis showed that Rivers recorded the highest average retail price of N17,086.36 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by Cross River with N17,050.00 and Abia with N17,012.52.
On the other hand, the report showed that the lowest average price for 12.5kg of cooking gas was recorded in Bauchi at N13,425.00, followed by Nassarawa and Adamawa at N13,640.94 and N13,725.00 respectively.
Analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price of N16,524.00 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-East at N16,495.78
The report said the North-Central recorded the lowest price at N14,767.41.
Modupe Gbadeyanka